Trump learns to love megadonors
Trump's political strategists remain eager for more support from establishment Republican donors, some of whom are still wary about donating to the president.
By MAGGIE SEVERNS 06/08/2018 05:05 AM EDT
Hedge fund magnate Paul Singer was so anti-Trump before the 2016 election that he helped bankroll a political action committee dedicated to closing off the reality TV star’s path to the presidency. Trump said at a news conference that there was a “lotta controversy” surrounding the billionaire and attacked Singer’s stance on immigration.
But at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel in midtown this May, Singer amicably chatted with the president and a dozen other high-dollar donors during a fundraiser for Trump’s reelection campaign, according to a person in the room. And he gave $240,000 to the Republican Party this spring shortly before the event.
It was a sign of success for a monthslong charm offensive by the president and his allies toward establishment Republicans who were wary of him during the 2016 campaign.
The president — who claimed in 2016 that he was self-funding his campaign so he couldn’t be “controlled” by donors, even though he ultimately raised most of his funds from outsiders — has developed a new ease with the donor class and is spending significant time away from the White House fundraising from them. Trump has attended eight events for the political groups supporting him in 2018, an uptick from the five he attended the previous year, and he has crisscrossed the country to Los Angeles, Dallas and Columbus, Ohio.
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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/08/trump-megadonors-gop-fundraising-632671